2019 Africa Cup of Nations: Tension In Yaounde

There is palpable tension in Yaounde as Cameroon players flatly refused to board an Egypt bound plane for AFCON.
According to CAF rules, Cameroon’s players were supposed to have arrived in Egypt on Friday morning.
The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) kicks off on Friday night with a match between hosts Egypt and Zimbabwe.
However, the Cup holders are still at a hotel in the Cameroon capital city of Yaounde, waiting for more money from the government.

The players were protesting the bonuses offered to them by the Cameroon government. The scenario looks like they were shortchanged of the agreed sum accruing to each players. They are demanding 40 million francs (€61,000) each, whereas the authorities say they can’t pay more than 20 million francs (€30,500), which has been wired direct to their respective bank accounts.

The Egyptian National team battle ready for the Zimbabwean team for the
take off match this Friday evening

The Clarence Seedorf led team had their sendoff at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium on Thursday evening and were set to depart for the airport. But rather, they chose to go to their Mont Febe hotel, according to state television station CRTV .

Mediations from the Football Federation (Fecafoot), Sports Minister and other state dignitaries including legend Samuel Eto’o yielded no result.
In an open letter to the general public, the players explained as follows:

Zimbabwean team line up. But may even
boycott the opening match, because of 
similar grievances

1) Most of us paid fully or partially our air tickets from our clubs to the team’s camp for the Afcon preparations.
2) During camping in Madrid and Doha, no player, among the final 23 or the excluded 14, was paid participation premium.
3) Our camping in Doha, our trip to Yaounde and the eventual trip to Cairo were all sponsored by Qatar.
4) A presidential decree dating back to 2014 states that all bonuses, participation fees for friendly matches and camping must be paid to the players before the start of a major tournament like the Afcon.
5) We have even accepted a 25% slash in our regular bonuses ahead of the upcoming Afcon but unfortunately, they are not honouring this.

Will high level official mediation break
the hard kernel?

6) We deplore the poor communication between the players and football officials of this country.
7) This disorganisation led to the refusal of players like Joel Matip, Stephane Mbia and Nicolas Nkoulou to come to camp.
8) We wish that the future generation of players would not suffer a similar disregard as us and those who preceded us.
Signed by ALL 23 players.